


Undercover Vegetables, Now That's Holographic... Well, You Know

by Arikitteh



Category: Good Eats RPF, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Gen, Star Trek: Voyager x Good Eats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 08:19:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9226406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arikitteh/pseuds/Arikitteh
Summary: Ensign Wildman is having trouble getting Naomi to eat her veggies. Godfather Neelix to the rescue, along with an interesting holoprogram and some help from noted Chef Alton Brown. Will Naomi discover that veggies can be Good Eats?





	

“She's been refusing to eat her veggies, or anything I try to make that she thinks might have veggies somewhere in it. I try to replicate healthy food for her, with the promise that she can pick something sweet for dessert, but even that dosen't help. I don't know what to do anymore!” Ensign Samantha Wildman was at her wit's end as she sipped from a large steaming mug of mint breakfast tea while seated at at table in Voyager's mess hall.

Voyager's resident chef and honorary morale officer, Neelix, sat across from her with a glass of some fresh berry juice in his hands. Ensign Wildman's half eaten breakfast tray sat on the table, where she kept poking at her hash browns more than actually eating them. Neelix started to ponder this little issue Sam was having with her daughter.

“I know children will sometimes become picky about what they eat. But if this is an ongoing thing, perhaps I can spend a little time with Naomi, get her in the kitchen and see if I can get her picking out healthy foods and preparations that she'd like to eat. Figure out some recipes I can program into the replicators for you to make anytime she's feeling picky.” Neelix had developed a special bond with his goddaughter, one he hoped would help in tackling this little issue.

Samantha had a relieved, grateful look on her face as she looked at Neelix over the top of her mug. “Thank you. I'd try something like that myself, but I've been so busy with work that I don't have the free time to spend on something like that.”

Seeing the burden being lifted from Sam's shoulders was all the thanks Neelix needed. He took his role as morale officer seriously. Anything he could do to lift the crew's spirits on this long trip was worth doing. “Who knows, Naomi and I might come up with some new things to add to the dinner menu.”

Neelix was constantly experimenting with the different foods they came across, trying to provide the crew with a tasty variety of options anytime they came to the mess hall for a meal. With Naomi's desire to learn all she could about normal day-to-day shipboard operations, some time spent in the kitchen would add to her knowledge. Learning what it takes to keep your crew well fed and happy is important knowledge for a future Captain.

Neelix picked up a PADD and started to look over the current inventory of foodstuffs stored in the cargo bays, as well as checking the morning report from the ship's hydroponics bays, which kept him updated on what they had growing and which things were ready to be harvested. Ensign Wildman went back to her breakfast, hastily finishing it before she got up to place the tray and mug on the collection cart designated for them. She waved to Neelix on her way out, needing to get to her post in one of the medlabs.

“I wonder if there's been any studies done on children being picky eaters.” Neelix muttered as he got up and headed back to the kitchen. Telling the computer to search across all available databases for such information while he finished his juice and got back to serving up hot breakfasts for the crew.

 

* * *

 

Seeing the invite from her godfather go meet him on the holodeck after school had Naomi excited. She couldn't help but to bounce in her chair a bit during the last hour of school. She always had fun anytime she got to spend time with Neelix. She wondered if they were going to go on a new Flotter adventure today. When it got to the final half hour of school, the time seemed to crawl past. Of course the instructor had to save math for last. Math always made school feel like it took forever. To Naomi, this could be considered cruel and unusual torture.

While Naomi was stuck dealing with math, Neelix had made his way to the holodeck to try a new program he'd worked on during the after lunch lull. The computer had found a bunch of shows from an old earth television channel that had been devoted to shows about chefs and cooking food. One of the most knowledgable and popular chefs of that time had been someone named Alton Brown. Chef Brown had gotten his start on the Food Network with a show called 'Good Eats!' that had been immensely popular as it explained not only cooking, it also explained the science behind it in fun and amusing ways.

There had been an entire episode of the show devoted to getting children to eat their veggies. This was the sort of expert help Neelix thought could be useful for getting Naomi eating healthy again. Using the wall panel next to the holodeck door, Neelix started the program, then stepped inside. He didn't know what to expect, and was pleased to see that he was standing in a rather large kitchen. Some of the equipment was unfamiliar to him, but he could figure out all of the basics; sink, stovetop, oven, refrigerator, freezer, and there was a nice sized deck outside that housed both a large propane grill and a nicely sized charcoal one as well.

Once he'd finished walking around, he gave the computer the command to start the Alton Brown program. A tall human wearing jeans and a vintage bowling shirt popped into the kitchen. Alton brown looked at Neelix, then pulled off his glasses, wiped them clean on the hem of his shirt, before replacing them on his face and looking at Neelix again.

“Hello, can I help you?” Chef Brown asked.

“I hope you can, Chef. I have an issue and I was told that you might be just the right person to give me some advice. You see, I'm a chef too. I cook for a large crew, on board a ship. One of my crewmates came to me at breakfast this morning asking for some help. Her daughter is refusing to eat her veggies, no matter how she tries to cook them.” Neelix explained. Alton Brown nodded, understanding the problem.

“Ah, I see. Come with me, I have a secret culinary weapon in my cellar that I think can solve this problem nicely.” Alton Brown kicked a rug to the side, then pulled open a trap door built into the hardwood floor, leading Neelix down into a large root cellar. Past jars of homemade pickles, past bottles of various types of vinegars, to where an assortment of root veggies were stored.

Reaching out, Chef Brown unhooked a basket from where it hung on a simple hook off some of the storage bins. Then he started to fill the basket with some long white root vegetables. They looked similar to carrots, but were larger than most carrots you'd see in a store.

“What's that?” Neelix asked, as he wasn't familiar with the vegetables.

“These, my friend, are parsnips. Sweet enough to be hidden away in any number of cooking applications. Everything from baked goods, to being deep fried as chips. I'll show you a few tricks to help hide these away so your friend's daughter won't even know she's eating delicious veggies.” Alton Brown had a look of glee on his face. He loved expanding the pallets of people, introducing them to delicious new foods, and encouraging healthy eating.

Neelix followed Chef Brown back up to the kitchen where both chefs got to work on making a few tasty treats they hoped to tempt Naomi with once she was done with school.

 

* * *

 

Finally school was over. Naomi had stopped by the quarters she shared with her mom to drop off her little satchel filled with PADDS that contained her homework. She'd look at those later. Right now, she wanted a break from learning, and something to snack on. She hoped Neelix had brought a snack to the holodeck. Switching from the nice jumper she had been wearing for school, she pulled some of her playtime overalls from her dresser to change into.

Once changed into her play-clothes, and switched from the mary janes to sneakers, she grabbed her stuffed Flotter from her bed and rushed off down the hall to go meet up with her godfather on the holodeck.

Stepping into the holodeck, she was surprised to see that she was walking into a large kitchen. Neelix was there, with someone else she didn't recognize. They were seated at a small table, that had a basket of delicious looking muffins, a large bowl of what looked like some homemade chips, and a big bowl of some sort of applesauce-looking dish as well. Naomi's tummy let out a loud rumble when she spotted the food.

“Hi, Naomi! I'd like you to meet Mister Alton Brown. He's a fellow chef. Been teaching me some new recipes. Would you like to try some and tell me if their any good?” Neelix called out from where he was seated at the table.

That was all the invitation Naomi needed. She quickly pulled out one of the chairs and seated herself at the table. Looking at the trio of dishes, she played 'ennie-minie-miney-mo' to pick which one she wanted to try first. The muffin's won out. Reaching for one of the big fluffy muffins, she saw it had some toasted almonds on top. Pulling the top of the muffin right off, she tore it down the middle and quickly stuffed half of it into her mouth.

Neelix grinned as he saw the look of joy on Naomi's face and watched as she devoured the muffin happily. He poured Naomi a glass of apple juice to wash the muffin down with, and was pleasantly surprised when he saw her little hand reach out to grab a second muffin off the plate.

“These muffins are really good! Can you give Mom the recipe so she can make them for breakfast sometime?” Naomi managed to ask between bites of the muffin.

“I'd be happy to send her the recipe.” Neelix found it hard to contain his excitement. The parsnips had worked!

Naomi reached to snag a handful of the long thin strips that were the chips. Munching on them happily. “I like these too, they have the same nice sweetness that the muffins have. Sweet, but not too sweet, and nice and crunchy. You should add these to the replicators. They'd be a great snack.”

Neelix and Alton Brown exchanged a look. So far they were two for two with their dishes. Naomi pulled the large bowl of the sauce desert in easy reach. Grabbing the spoon next to her glass, she started to dig in happily. “Yummie! What's in this? It dosen't taste like applesauce.”

“It's a pear and parsnip sauce. The chips are parsnip chips. And the muffins are parsnip muffins.” Chef Brown answered her question.

“What's a parsnip?” Naomi asked, still happily munching on the big bowl of pear and parsnip sauce.

“Parsnips are roots, kinda like carrots.” Alton Brown replied.

“These are sweeter than carrots. I like them better.” Naomi said as she finished off the pear and parsnip sauce.

“Would you like to learn how to make these treats?” Chef Brown asked.

“Oooh, can I?” Naomi asked, bouncing happily in her chair as she grabbed another handful of the chips.

“Of course you can.” Neelix said with a grin. He reached over to help set her stuffed Flotter down on one of the empty chairs. So Flotter could watch while they cooked. Naomi slid off her chair to follow the adults to the kitchen. A small stepladder was found in the pantry, which let Naomi be at the right height to help with grating and peeling the parsnips, as well as mixing the muffin batter and prepping the pears for the sauce treatment.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, Ensign Samantha Wildman was all smiles when coming to the mess hall for breakfast. “I don't know how you did it, Neelix. Naomi asked for a dessert with veggies at dinner, some veggie chips to snack on before bed, and some veggie muffins for breakfast before school today!” The happy Ensign hugged Neelix before going to get a tray to start grabbing some breakfast for herself.

“Are these the same muffins that Naomi was asking for this morning?” Sam asked as she grabbed one of the muffins to put on her tray.

“The very same ones. She was a huge help yesterday in my holographic test kitchen. We tweaked those recipes until they were Naomi approved. I had so much fun, I think I'll ask her to help me in a test kitchen like that more often.” Neelix was happier than normal this morning, especially seeing the crewmen going back for a second or third muffin with breakfast. He'd even seen the normally astuere Tuvok grabbing a second parsnip muffin with his coffee this morning.

“If this gets her eating more veggies, you can take her to the test kitchen every day!” Ensign Wildman said with a grin as she finished getting breakfast and a mug of tea, before finding her way to a table.

Neelix was all smiles as he turned back to his duties, serving breakfast for the crew. He was already thinking about some of the other noted Food Network chefs the database had information on. One of them had stood out to him, one that was known for bringing plenty of spice and big bold flavors to food.

This one was known for participating in a culinary battle in someplace called Kitchen Stadium. Neelix couldn't help but wonder what would happen if he were to challenge Bobby Flay sometime in an Iron Chef battle. First, he'd need to brush up some on his knowledge of classic Earth cuisine. Good thing he had a willing assistant in young Naomi, and a great teacher in the Alton Brown holoprogram.

But, as they say, that's not only a tale for another time. It's also, well you know...


End file.
